Transmutation of Energie

For my children…

Sine vos nihil

Nulli secundus

Eo Ipse Habeo Facto

Transmutation of Energie

Everyone has a story to tell, but it is the insights from those stories that open up a similar knowing within us.

            Perhaps this knowing is there all along and merely brought to the surface of our conscious awareness by our exposure to its corresponding frequency in another. Even though the stories we share with others come from our own personal experience, it is the exchange of energie with another, rather than the words themselves, which seem to unleash the matching frequency in the person who did not have the direct experience. This exchange results in what we commonly refer to as: a connection.

            If you think of a story as transference of physical energie, if you think of thoughts as veiled forms of perceptible energie, then it makes sense that this exchange could affect another in physical way. This effect might explain why some people instantly sense the discoveries others as if they were their own. Just as knowledge becomes our own, so too, do shared insights.

            When energetic exchanges between people seem to break all the rules, when these exchanges appear to violate cherished theories held for decades or hundreds of years about the nature of being and knowledge, it breaks a fundamental paradigm.

            In the history of ontological exploration, there will be few peaks higher than the discovery of the transmutation of energie between beings. From this moment forward, the long-held notion of separation would be utterly illogical.

            Reactions we have to others transcend mere biology, a subject that will no doubt evolve, pun intended, beyond the boundaries ivory towered academia places on the study of physiology to encompass the further reaching biophysical nature of existence. As we continue to observe subatomic particles carrying electric charges in varying degrees of magnitude, we will eventually observe the transmutation of elements between beings and at some point between beings and the objects we create.

            This idea is not merely a new “island” of biophysics that comes into view, but a completely new continent of knowledge about us and the fabric of reality. Other names have previously been put forth for these transcendent exchanges or alchemy-like reactions. Whatever their name, it seems as if twentieth century medicine took a wrong turn long ago by denying that such reactions could occur. It seems as if there is an error in the foundation of physiology.

            How does energie move through the cosmic latticework that binds us to everything that exists? Can we escape the cosmic choreography to which we are at present intrinsically bound? Can we traverse it in a way that feels authentic?

         

            Whatever this cosmic latticework is, wherever it came from, the particles that fill it seem to be moving in a Humpty Dumpty-like fashion, desperately trying to put all their corresponding pieces back together. Perhaps it is a naturalistic drive that propels us outward, consciously or unconsciously in some cases, searching for those people, those experiences, and those thoughts that awaken particles within us so that someday we might again be whole, even in our separation and division.

            

          This is a lot to think about … so I think I will pause and take a puff of sage from my pipe.

Ceremonial white sage was a ritual-cleansing herb used by ancient peoples to promote emotional health and environmental well-being. The ancient Celts and Druids, as well as Native Americans smoked sage to increase wisdom and knowledge, and for its protection and healing from negative energies. In short, sage has long since been recognized as both a medicinal and psychologically beneficial purifying agent.

            I am an analytical person, a person who, because of this ability to see energie, has been faced with exploring metaphysical thought. I constantly find myself wrestling with my more perceptive side as it aims to integrate abstract concepts with the [known] laws of nature.

            I suppose the writing style of this magnum opus is a combination of two distinctive ways of processing information. In this sense, you could call this work an “energie meets matter” type of treatise. While I strive to keep both my intuitive and analytical methods for processing information in harmony, I will no doubt vacillate between the two in order to express the same sentiment.

            In the name of brevity, it would be nice to simply present the world with a numbered list of beneficial aphorisms ~ preferably presented in their order of importance, stemming from knowledge of oneself to our interactions with others and then, onto our choices in life, our possible purpose, altruistic or otherwise, and finally to that place whereby we find coherency, balance, and harmony in being ~ not to say that these elements cannot be present during other times in our lives, but rather come together in a total symbiotic-like expression. 

            Unfortunately, the abruptness of brevity severs the energetic connection or pathway by which knowledge is transmuted between beings, so if you are looking for any golden nuggets of insight as ascertained by me, you’ll have to actually read through all of this and do your best to extract from it whatever kernels of useful knowledge lie within.  

            With this being said, I have a story that I would like to share with you, a story that I have been trying to tell since I was quite young, only in different ways.  I suppose I only felt compelled to share my perceptions because I did not encounter others who (admit to) perceiving the physical world as I do, in its particle form. Early in life I was not prepared for the reactions of others when I reacted based off the energies I perceived vs. the words or sentiments they chose to share to describe an energetic exchange.

            In this sense, my social reactions are not always in harmony with others. If I sense a break in energie, I begin probing, looking for the source of the break. Sometimes the break is due to someone’s deliberate desire to shield their intentions from another, and other times a break can arise from the subconscious level, theirs or mine. Those are the most difficult breaks in energie to encounter because you are faced with either ignoring the break or face it head on if your integrity compels you to engage in the burdensome activity of trying to sort out the differences in frequency. To sort out this type of energetic anomaly, you have to engage someone in a type of thinking that causes him or her to question a specific thought or feeling he or she is having. Doing so can bring a subconscious thought up to the conscious level for examination. This is when you return to the interaction and try to balance out previous anomalies in energetic exchanges.

            In the process of trying to explain what it is that I perceive, I learned much about the methods by which energie travels. I also learned about the taboos of discussing thoughts that transcend what we know about physical matter or the laws of nature.

            It took some "soul searching" as one might say for me to convince myself to write about this subject. Not because I think I believe am unsound in my thinking, but because it is so foreign that it almost sounds absurd to someone who does not (1) perceive energie in the same way I do; (2) does not have an open mind to truly explore for exploration sake; or who, (3) does not have a working knowledge of quantum physics, which might provide them with a base of understanding about the subatomic world from which they could extrapolate concepts for themselves.

            I concluded that the most honest contribution I could make to the subject was to simply walk through as many of these so-called "energetic" perceptions as I could; not because I do not have insights into other fields worthy of sharing, but because variance among the species is intriguing and worthy our exploration. Presuming my sensitivity to energetic fluctuations is a variance, it is relevant both to me and to others as a matter of exploration. The science and early technological ventures in the field of quantum mechanics have further ratified my conclusion that I should share my perceptions "as is". 

            For the time being, I have very little evidence to present for your consideration other than my thoughts on the matter (pun intended). The quantum of evidence that is needed to prove anything to anyone is beyond the scope of what can be conveyed without the aide of quality instruments. Thus, the quality of proof can only be in your interpretation of my frame of mind at the time of penning as well as in any circumstantial evidence I can offer that might imply the existence of the facts in question.

            While this type of evidence cannot prove what I am admitting, namely that I see energie and can attest to, perhaps not its nature or exact movements but rather, its existence, its ebb and flow, and its interconnectivity. This opus can help you decide for yourself if my statements are true... or if this is yet another slightly more surreal attempt at humorous discourse.

            These ideas might also provide you with a starting point for your own exploration. 

            From what I can see, we all have these energies flowing through us, emanating from us, and popping in and out of existence all around us as if they were traveling between the fabrics of space-time.

            I cannot possibly share every experience I have with energie. The stories would become mountainous. Thus, I will try to choose the most poignant ones from among what feels like an infinite source of examples I could share.

            Locked in the structure of various forms of matter in contact with other forms are fantastic energies. Despite my observance of people projecting and reacting to these energies, they appear hidden to most people’s conscious perceptions. I believe these energies are the source and sustenance of life. If I can see them ~ they must be available for all (to see or perceive). 

            I hope that my willingness to share these perceptions results in the ability of others to see these energies or at least experiment with instruments that might someday prove they exist. I also hope that our species evolves in its collective wisdom to the point that when we do encounter these energies, and we will, that we have the wisdom to explore them rather than exploit them for personal gain.

          Of course, if this post sounds peculiar, recall that you are visiting a blog dedicated to exploring humorous thoughts wherever they may be found. 

The Nature of the Hand

The Hand: A built-in mechanism of self-preservation provides this complex apparatus with the ability to sustain a lifetime of use. 

Hands are a perceptual organ, playing a crucial role in gathering information about the world. 

Fingers can tell us whether a surface is smooth or rough...

wet or dry...

hot or cold...

soft or hard...

Hands contain nociceptors, which are implicated in pain responses... 

The hand is not just a neutral observer, it is an instrument of value. 

With respect to gathering sensory information, the hand allows us to receive proprioceptive information... the position of our fingers and wrists - and kinesthetic information - the tension in our muscles... 

Through a combination of touch and proprioception, when our fingers bend against a surface, we infer curvature...

When muscles tense while lifting an object, we can even discern its weight, and even its approximate shape from kinesthesia...

Our haptic senses also interact with vision and other modalities. We see an object and spontaneously imagine what it would be like to touch it..

Haptic senses, because they often exploit bodily movement, may present space in a way that is more decidedly external. When we see an image and imagine reaching for it or exploring it with our hands, we convert the visual information into an action that is quite literally extended in the world. This may contribute to our impression that things are meant to be touched. 

Do Not Touch Me

Paolo Veronese 

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Grenoble, France

When we see something as graspable, we imagine what it will feel like when we take hold of it. 

This is what J.J. Gibson called an affordance: an immediate registration of an object's potential for interaction. This takes us beyond the purely sensory aspects of the hand to an entirely distinct feature: Hands are things with which we act. 

The evolution of the prehensile thumb and the bipedal gate has made us especially skilled at manipulating our world. Hands are a sine qua non for the manufacture of artifacts, which are distinctively human. 

Hands allow us to do many things that other creatures do with their mouths...

Hands and haptic imagery are also important for thinking and problem solving. The most obvious case of this is calculation. Here, we perform operations with our hands that we perform in our heads. 

When we see someone grasping something, we spontaneously imagine grasping the object ourselves. It is difficult to observe someone doing something with his or her hands without feeling an impulse to do it ourselves. 

We use hands to greet one another... which promotes trust

to console... a hand on the shoulder can bring comfort

to caress...

and to fight!

Hands bind us together, and set us apart. Touching another person and being touched have strong psychological effects. 

Hands play a poetic role in our lives, going beyond mere communication, adding an aesthetic dimension. 

Gestures can provide emphasis, indicate content, and serve as cognitive crutches for the speaker... as well as the listener-observer. 

Some gestures do not always translate cross-culturally...

North American "Okay" sign

Something less polite in Brazil

Gestures can also be expressive of positive feelings, such as when we applaud...

or offer a fetchingly curled "come hither" expression...

or make a sweeping "be gone!" motion...

It is no surprise that many researchers think language originated in gesture. 

Without hands, without fingers to type, I would not be able to write this article, nor would Matteo Baccarini, Andrew J. Bremner, Massimiliano L. Cappuccio, Andy Clark, Jonathan Cole, Dorothy Cowie, Natalie Depraz, Rosalyn Driscoll, Harry Farmer, Shaun Gallagher, Nicolas P. Holmes, Daniel D. Hutto, Angelo Maravita, Filip Mattens, Richard Menary, Jesse J. Prinz, Zdravko Radman, Matthew Ratcliffe, Etiennne B. Roesch, Stephen V. Shepherd, Susan A. J. Stuard, Manos Tsakiris, and Michael Wheeler been able to contribute to The Hand, an Organ of the Mind. 

Many thanks to Richard A. Berger and Arnold-Peter C. Weiss for helping me to understand that hand surgery was not in the cards for me... 

Silence Has A Sound

A synthetic activity of consciousness, silence; 

a dimension of its own. 

 It has a melody, but no notes

a rhythm, but no tune

listen

~soph

Angel Comics

Study for Two Angels (2013)

Soph Laugh

This comic was inspired by the angels of Raphael's The Holy Family of Francis I, and is expressed by the outstretched wing of the angel on the left, who is positioned higher in the cloud. The wings for the angel on the right side are not visible in this comic, which denotes a natural hierarchy. 

Our thoughts of angels are naturally connected with thoughts of children. Their innocence is the epitome of purity on earth and of our long-held ideas on beings of a higher sphere. The term 'angelic' is often times used to describe the beauty of a child.

It is this essence which I aim to convey in this pen and ink drawing. Making use of a three drawing instruments: a graphite pencil, ACMI Fine Line Marker 01, and a red stained fabric marker (on 17 x 21 cm, acid free paper by Sennelier); I attempt to make use of equal negative space, as a balance to positive space, in order to give the eye a "place to rest." 

Rather than drawing these images right-side up, I tend to draw them from the sides or upside-down, so I am better able to give equal attention to both the positive and negative shapes. The result is a more balanced drawing. The intended simplicity in these comics is simliar to the silence within a piece of music. 

The comics I create from fine art are an attempt to capture the 'essence' of complicated shapes (human figures). The primitive lines I utilize represent the form with a set of primitive shapes from which nearly any form can be represented by some sort of combination. 

Once these shapes are assembled into a likeness, i.e., angelic Stick Figures, I then ink the drawing into a more refined, accurate and polished form. 

Finally, in the program Photoshop, I adjust the brightness and contrast, exposure, gamma correction, saturation, and finally, if the comics were created on white paper, as was this one above, I adjust the image with a warming filter to give it that old world effect. 

The following images were my inspiration. While I have not seen the sketch in person, I have had the privilege of viewing Raphael's finished piece in the Louvre. 

Study for Two Angels, 1517-18

Raphael

© Teylers Museum, Haarlem

These angels gaze at each other in what appears to be a great sense of shared purpose. Although they are only partly elaborated, they are almost tangible. The drawing is probably a preliminary study for the Holy Family of Francis I in the Louvre. The angel on the right corresponds to this work, but the one on the left does not. This is a rare case of Raphael having altered his composition at a late stage, after producing detailed drawings of this kind.

Holy Family of Francis I

Raphael

The Holy Family of Francis the First is so named because Raphael painted the picture for the king of France. However, Raphael followed the natural order of painting what was traditionally the holy family, which consisted of the mother and child, with one or more additional figures. The third figure is often times the infant John the Baptist, or it may be Joseph the husband of Mary; a fourth figure is likely to be St. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and sometimes all five of these are shown in a group. 

In this composition, the light falls chiefly on the child Jesus, who is springing up, as Mary lifts him from his cradle. His happy, joyous face is raised with a glad smile to the down-glancing mother. She has eyes only for him, and into her face there has come a look of sweet gravity which helps one to see that this is more than the play of a mother and child. 

Eagerly reaching forward to the golden-haired Jesus is the swarthy John the Baptist, his hands folded in the gesture of prayer, the cross which he carries as the herald of Jesus leaning against his breast, and a look of bright wonder in his face. 

Leaning over and holding him is his mother, Elizabeth, whom the great painters were wont to figure as an old woman, after the description of her in the gospel as "well stricken in years." She also gazes down at her child with a like expression of deep feeling. 

Behind the group is Joseph, the husband of Mary, in an attitude which is very common in the old pictures. He rarely seems to be a part of the group. He stands a little way off looking on, with a thoughtful air, as if he were the guardian of this pair. Sometimes he is shown with a staff or crutch, and it may be that here he rests his elbow on it, while his head leans upon his half-closed hand. 

All these are distinguished by the nimbus which encircles the head of a sacred person, but the two other figures in the picture have no nimbus, for they are angels.

I do not know if a nimbus hovers above my Stick Figures, but they do represent as much a supernatural essence as my hand could produce.